Chicago-area man gets 40 years in infant porn case

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago-area man who created a live online video of himself sexually molesting an infant was sentenced to 40 years in prison on child pornography charges, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Brian Annoreno, 35, was among several Chicago-area men charged in 2006 with participating in a private Internet "chat room" used to facilitate the trading of child pornography images, prosecutors said.

More than two dozen individuals in the United States, England, Canada and elsewhere were prosecuted as a result of an international undercover investigation that infiltrated the chat room, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.

Annoreno and others transmitted streaming video of live molestations through online instant messenger services to participants around the world, prosecutors said.

"This case involved the most disturbing criminal sexual assault of minors," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement. "The exploitation of children in such a depraved manner can never be tolerated."

Annoreno pleaded guilty in 2010 to child pornography charges. He has been in federal custody since his arrest in 2006 and will receive credit for time served. He was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel.